| Abstracts | contain concise summaries of and bibliographic citations to articles, reports, patents, etc. |
| CD-ROM | compact disc -- read only memory; usually contain indexes to the periodicalreport, patent literature. |
| Database | a collection of electronically-stored data. In context of information technology it may be a collection of bibliographic citations, compilation of numerical data, or full text of journals, books, etc. |
| Dictionary | an alphabetical listing of words with their definitions. |
| Directory | a listing of people, organizations, or companies with names and addresses. |
| Encyclopedia | a comprehensive work providing background information in a specific discipline, special field, or subject. Information arranged alphabetically by topic. |
| Government document | primary publication issued by an agency of the Federal, State, or local governments. |
| Handbook | a concise work covering a subject or discipline. Written for experts; containing textual and numerical data; tables, charts, and formulas. |
| Index | provides access to periodical articles, reports, patents, books by subject and/or keyword and author. |
| Journal | a primary publication intended for a scholarly audience and published at regular intervals. |
| the PAC | (def.) the online card catalog listing the library's holdings. Includes books, journals, microform materials, records, tapes, videos, films, etc. It is NOT an index to journal articles. |
| Periodical | a publication issued at regular intervals aimed at a broad audience. Usually refers to both magazines and journals. |
| Review | contains an overview of a subject. |
| Survey | a critical summary of progress made in a subject field. |
| Tables | compilations of data presented in tabular form. |
| Treatise | a multi-volume work with comprehensive and historical coverage of a subject including extensive documentation. |
